Toshiba's ultra-fast microSD cards will let you shoot like a pro with small cameras

It's easy to find fast storage if you have a big camera, but not so much if you have a very tinymirrorless cam that uses microSD cards -- more often than not, you're stuck in the slow lane. You won't be held back for much longer if Toshiba has its way, though. The company has just revealed the first-ever microSD cards to meet the speedy UHS-II spec, giving them the same performance as the quickest full-size SD storage -- and up to eight times the write speed of Toshiba's earlier microSD lineup. Data reads, meanwhile, are nearly three times faster.

The upgrade should help even smaller cameras and smartphones shoot burst photos as quickly as some pro hardware, and 4K video recording will be relatively pain-free. Toshiba is only providing samples of 32GB and 64GB cards to chip and gadget makers at this stage, and you'll need to check that whatever device you get supports UHS-II before you splurge on the newer flash memory. However, it shouldn't be long before you can get truly rapid-fire photography from a device that fits in your pocket.